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This will certainly get your tastebuds in a 'slather', thanks to :B

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Vrghr′s Best ″Bucyrus″ Style Bratwurst

When wuff was but a cub, his family spent a few years in a small Ohio town, called Bucyrus. This relatively unremarkable little burg had one superlative attribute, at least to wuffy′s thinking – they claimed to be ″The Bratwurst Capitol Of The USA″. While wuff lived there, Bucyrus was home to several markets run by German immigrants and their families, each with their own ″secret recipes″ for bratwurst (and other sausage). Naturally, there was competition and rivalry over who had the best brats, and each store had their die-hard fans. All of them were VERY good!

In 1968, the town held their first festival to celebrate the wondrous Bratwurst in their midst. It certainly caught on! They now serve nearly twenty seven TONS of bratwurst during they 3-day festival every year. (No, wuff didn′t eat 25 tons of that, though believe me, Vrghr did try! *grins*)

Over the years, many of those markets have closed, though Carle′s is still in business (http://www.carlesbrats.com/index.html).
And they′re still making FANTASTIC bratwurst, among other goodies.

Many folks enjoy their wurst with some sauerkraut, or just a bit of brown spicy mustard. But wuff′s father learned this method from one of the fair booths there during the festival, and adjusted it for serving to his family. Vrghr has taken his recipe and made wuff′s own tweaks to it.

It starts, like many good recipes, with bacon, chopped and fried until it just starts to brown. Then a combination of bell peppers (red & green), onion and garlic are added to sauté in the rich, savory bacon grease. A few spices are sprinkled in, to enhance the veggie′s flavors and match them a bit more to the spices in the wurst, along with a wee bit of Aleppo crushed pepper for just a little spicy heat to cut the sweet richness.

Once the veggies have become tender, chicken stock and BEER is added, along with the bratwursts. The wursts boil in that bath of flavor for about 15 minutes. They are then removed, cooked to the center but not ″finished″ yet. That takes a trip to a grill, fry pan, griddle or similar.

In the meantime, the veggies stay over high heat, and you boil the heck out of them to reduce the liquids down to just a dribble. The veggies become remarkably sweet, and have picked up lots of flavor from the wurst while the wurst picked up delicious flavors from the broth they boiled in.

Once the bratwursts have done just enough time on the grill to turn those pallid, pale links into lovely, toasted sausage with brown crispy bits on their surface, wuff returns them to the reduced sauce and lowers things to warm. There they rest, nestled in a bath of beer, brat juice, bacon, and rich savory sweet sauce, awaiting a trip to a big thick, substantial bun. Slather that veggie mix thickly over the sausage, and add just a bit of your favorite condiment (spicy brown mustard/Dijon is recommended!), or just enjoy ″as is″.

If you want to cut a few carbs, just plate your wurst and top it with the veggies and enjoy them ″bun-less″. In wuff′s opinion, this is the absolute best way to enjoy your bratwursts! Try this, and see if you don′t agree!

NOTES:

-Don′t try serving these on your ″standard″ hot dog buns. The thick links of bratwurst and the damp slather of veggies will overwhelm a normal bun, leaving you with scraps of dough and a hot wurst in your paws. Use a good Hoagie roll instead.
-Don′t use the pre-cooked bratwursts you normally find next to the hotdog section. Make sure you get the raw ones in the freezer case, or from the meat department. The long boil and subsequent grill process will over-cook the pre-cooked versions, and you′ll get bratwurst jerky links.
-You don′t need to get a ′remarkable′ beer, but don′t settle for a bad one. A decent national brand lager type will do. A dark might be too overwhelming or bitter, and a pale ale too weak to stand up to a brat′s spices.

Wuffy made enough bratwursts to feed 8 hungry folks (wuff cooked 17 links). Vrghr will provide the ″party size″ portions as well as a more ′sane′ family or self sized list of ingredients too.

Ingredients:

(To feed 8-9 folks)

1 Party pack + 1 5-pack (17 links total) uncooked Bratwurst
5-6 strips thick-cut Bacon, chopped up
4 bell peppers, 2 red and 2 green
4 large yellow Onions
1 large bottle ~30 oz Lager-type beer (Budweiser works well)
2 C Chicken Stock
3-4 Tbs minced Garlic
2 tsp Celery Seed
1 tsp Thyme
1-2 tsp ground Black Pepper (adjust to taste)
½ tsp crushed Rosemary
½ tsp crushed Aleppo Peppers

(To feed 2-3 folks)

4 links uncooked Bratwurst
2 strips thick-cut Bacon, chopped up
1 red and 1 green bell pepper
2 medium yellow Onions
1 can lager-type beer (Budweiser works well)
1 C Chicken Stock
1 1/2 Tbs minced Garlic
1 tsp Celery Seed
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp ground Black Pepper (adjust to taste)
1/8-1/4 tsp crushed Rosemary
¼ tsp crushed Aleppo Peppers

Directions:

Note – not many households have a stove-top skillet large enough to handle the veggies and bratwursts to make 17 links at once. Wuffy recommends a large electric skillet, if cooking indoors. A roasting pan may work too, if you can keep the heat spread across the entire bottom of the pan. Even better, Wuff recommends a large roasting pan on the grill for this, to more evenly distribute the heat. And you can pop the wursts in and out of the pan easily to grill them in the second stage.

Stage 1 – Sauté the Veggies

Core the bell peppers and remove the seeds. Slice into 1/4″ thick strips
Peel the onions and remove the stem and root ends. Slice in half from top to bottom, then slice into 1/4″ half-rings
Chop the thick bacon into ½″ sections
In an electric skillet/pan over high heat, fry the bacon until it just starts to crisp (should still be plenty chewy)
Add the bell peppers (green and red), sliced onions, and minced garlic.
Stir and fry until the onions start turning translucent and the peppers are getting tender (about 30 minutes for this much veg)
Sprinkle the ground pepper, thyme, Aleppo pepper and crushed rosemary over the veggies. Pour in the chicken stock and beer, and stir everything together. Allow to heat until it starts to bubble.

Stage 2 – Boil the Bratwursts

Puncture each bratwurst link a couple times with a fork, to keep from bursting when boiling
Add the raw bratwursts to the boiling veggie/beer mixture. Nestle the sausage links down into the mixture so they′re pretty well covered.
Cover with lid and allow to cook/boil for 15-17 minutes.
Bratwursts should turn pale white and become much firmer.

Stage 3 – Grill the Bratwursts & Reduce the Sauce

Remove bratwursts from beer/veggie mixture with tongs, shaking off any clinging veggies
Allow the veggie mixture to continue to cook over high heat, boiling away excess liquid. Stir occasionally. This much beer and veg will take about 30-45 minutes to fully reduce to just a small amount of liquid.
Grill or fry the wursts until nicely browned all around (about 8-10 minutes, depending on grill)
Remove the wursts to a plate to hold while liquid continues to reduce in the veggies.

Stage 4 – Warm/Hold & Eat!

When the liquid is substantially reduced, lower the heat to low/warm.
Add the grilled bratwursts back into the veggie mixture, and spoon up some of the veggies to cover.
Cover with lid until ready to serve (can be held, or served immediately)

Place a bratwurst on a good hoagie role, cover with a thick slather of the veggies, and add any desired condiments.

DEVOUR!

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Allergy warning – please read all recipes carefully and be aware of any allergies or sensitivities that may affect your health and well-being